A Reading from Wisdom 4:16-5:8
16 The righteous who have died will condemn the ungodly who are living,
and youth that is quickly perfected will condemn the prolonged old age of the unrighteous.
17 For they will see the end of the wise
and will not understand what the Lord purposed for them
and for what he kept them safe.
18 The unrighteous will see and will have contempt for them,
but the Lord will laugh them to scorn.
19 After this they will become dishonored corpses
and an outrage among the dead forever,
because he will dash them speechless to the ground
and shake them from the foundations;
they will be left utterly dry and barren,
and they will suffer anguish,
and the memory of them will perish.
20 They will come with dread when their sins are reckoned up,
and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.
1 Then the righteous will stand with great confidence
in the presence of those who have oppressed them
and those who make light of their labors.
2 When the unrighteous see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear,
and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.
3 They will speak to one another in repentance,
and in anguish of spirit they will groan,
4 “These are persons whom we once held in derision
and made a byword of reproach — fools that we were!
We thought that their lives were madness
and that their end was without honor.
5 Why have they been numbered among the children of God?
And why is their lot among the holy ones?
6 So it was we who strayed from the way of truth,
and the light of righteousness did not shine on us,
and the sun did not rise upon us.
7 We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,
and we journeyed through trackless deserts,
but the way of the Lord we have not known.
8 What has our arrogance profited us?
And what good has our boasted wealth brought us?
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Meditation
“If I were Jesus…” is a dangerous premise that can get out of hand in a hurry. How might we have responded in the resurrection if we were Jesus? Instead of appearing to Mary in the garden, we might have appeared to Pilate or the Roman soldiers. Instead of the disciples, we might have popped in on the chief priests. Thankfully, none of us is Jesus.
There is a very human desire to be vindicated when we have been wronged, and the temptation can be something of a slippery slope toward enforcing or perhaps inflicting that vindication on wrongdoers. And yet, in Wisdom, we hear, “Then the righteous will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have oppressed them and those who make light of their labors. When the unrighteous see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.”
Like the risen Lord, we do not hear of the righteous poking or prodding their oppressors. They do not provoke those who made light of them and their labors. They stand there and let their salvation speak for them. The glory of the Lord’s righteousness shines forth, and those who oppose it tremble in fear.
As we pass the halfway point of the Great 50 Days of Easter, we continue to give thanks that Christ put himself in our place so that he might vindicate those who live by faith. By baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have put on Christ. We are numbered among the children of God, and our lot is among the saints. We need only to stand in Christ, and his salvation will speak for us.
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The Rev. Benjamin Hankinson is the Director of Admissions for Nashotah House Theological Seminary and Priest in Charge of St. James in West Bend, Wisconsin. Originally from South Carolina, he has also served parishes in the Diocese of Springfield.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Soroti – The Church of the Province of Uganda
Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, Texas
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